Free Background Music Series: Terms of Use

Update: These terms of use have been updated on 14 October 2015. The main change is that the background music is now free to use in YouTube videos that are monetized (but otherwise non-commercial). If you published your work between 16 March 2011 and 13 October 2015, you many switch to the new terms of use. It is your choice. If you have been following the old terms of use and have been donating money to charity as per those terms of use, you will NOT be reimbursed for any payments made.

My songs are not entered in YouTube’s Content ID Match system. If you get a Content ID match notification from YouTube, you should dispute it. The instructions are here: Disputing Content ID Matches. Unfortunately, I have no control over people who may use my music to make fake or fraudulent claims.

1. Updated Terms of Use

As the Free Background Music series has been becoming more popular, there have been more requests being made for using the music for non-commercial purposes. Therefore, I have drawn up the following conditions for use. There are some restrictions for all categories of users, namely

• Credit must be given: For songs by longzijun, simply provide the credit “music by longzijun”. For songs by other composers, producers and performers, follow the crediting information in the table in Section 2.
• The music may not be used in works which are pornographic (or which promote pornography) or that deliberately promote illegal activities or incite hatred
• You may not distribute the music in your own collection of music (A similar restriction is applied to things to clip-art. You can use a clip-art image, but may not distribute it or sell it in your own collection of clip-art)
• To re-mix the music or use it in a mash-up and then publish your remix, you need permission and need to provide credits specifying which parts come from my music.
• The music may be cut and you can take out a segment and loop it, but you may not alter the tempo by more than 5%.
• You may not make copyright claims for the music on other videos containing the same song.

These terms of use may change at anytime without notice; however, changes will NOT be applied retroactively (i.e., if you have already used the music, you just need to follow the original terms of use). If the song is free when you used it to create a project, you will never need to pay for that use.

2. Credits

Credit should be given in the media product itself (e.g., in the actual video) and in the accompanying description (e.g., in the video description.

For most songs the credits should read: music by longzijun
You may also specify the song name.

For songs in the featured guest series, the following credits should be given:

Background Music 40: Tale of the Forgotten Forest Kingdom	Music composed and performed by Kate Kwok (longzijun.wordpress.com)
Background Music 39: Summit	Music vomposed and produced by Gary Ames (longzijun.wordpress.com)
Background Music 38: Somewhere Deep in the Sea	Music composed and performed by Jessica Yip (longzijun.wordpress.com)
Background Music 34: I Vow to Thee My Country	Piano arrangement and performance by Kate Kwok (2015). Original composition by Gustav Holst and Sir Cecil Spring Rice (1921) (longzijun.wordpress.com)
Background Music 28: Wild Illusion	Music composeed and performed by Nikolaos Taramanidis (longzijun.wordpress.com)
Background Music 21: Prelude in E-flat Major, Op. 23, No. 6	Composer: Sergei Rachmaninoff (Date of Composition: 1901-1903). Performed by: Tong Chi-ling (2012) (longzijun.wordpress.com)
Short Instrumental Track 26: Untitled	Music composed and performed by Jessica Yip (longzijun.wordpress.com)
Short Instrumental Track 15: The Mercury Tale	Music composed and performed by Jessica Yip (longzijun.wordpress.com)

3. Strictly Non-commercial Uses

The music in this series (and the Short Instrumental Themes series) is free to use for non-commercial purposes; simply provide a credit—music by longzijun—somewhere in your work (e.g., in the video credits, the video description, webpage, PowerPoint presentation or programme notes etc). It would also be great if you could spare a few seconds to offer your supporting any of the following ways: liking, sharing, commenting on any of my song videos or background music pages, adding song video(s) to a playlist or favorites list, adding a direct link to this page or subscribing to my YouTube channel. Every little bit helps and any such support would be very much appreciated. Non-commercial uses also includes:

3.1 Non-commercial Works Entered in Competitions with Prizes

Revised: 5 May 2013
These are now being treated the same as the non-commercial works mentioned above. Permission is given to use the music in this series (and the Short Instrumental Themes series and Backing Tracks Series) for free in the work as long as appropriate credit is provided, even for competitions in which prizes are offered.

3.2 YouTube videos that are Monetized (but otherwise non-Commercial in Nature

Revised: 14 October 2015
These are now being treated the same as the non-commercial works mentioned above. Permission is given to use the music in the Free Background Music Series (Part 1) and (Part 2) and Short Instrumental Themes Series as long as the videos themselves are non-commercial in nature.

I have no control over whether your video can be approved for monetization. That decision rests with YouTube and AdSense. Therefore, I cannot guarantee that your video will be approved for monetization, nor can I lobby YouTube on your behalf.

4. Professional Video-makers, Media Producers & App Developers

For the fifteen songs in the Short instrumental Themes series , the music can be used for free as long as attribution is provided (music by longzijun). This free use provision ONLY refers to these eight songs (which are between 12 and 60 seconds in length). For all other songs, the terms of use are as follows:

For the songs in Free Background Music Series (Background Music Songs 01 to 41) there are two additional requirements for using the song:

4.1 A donation should be made to a charity of your choice based on the revenue obtained (or your estimate of the revenue). It is suggested that for each video, 1% (the figure is up to your generosity) of your revenue earned for that video or video production fee should be donated. In many countries, users would also be able to claim the donation as a tax-deductible donation. If YouTube or other organisation is requesting proof that you have the right to use the song then you may send them the link to this page and you should indicate willingness to follow the terms.

4.2 The crediting should acknowledge the donation.
You can follow this format

music by longzijun*, used with permission, charitable donation to be made to: __ name of charity__

*For songs in the featured guest series, use the information provided in Section 2).

5. Small Businesses (i.e., local independent businesses)

There are three requirements:

5.1 The user should request and gain permission beforehand (zijun01@gmail.com). When requesting permission,  the user should  describe the project.  What is the business? What is the purpose of the work?   How, where and when will it be shown?  For music in the featured guest series, I will pass your request on to the composer/musician in question.

5.2 The user should make a minimum donation of 10 USD to a charity of his/her choice for each separate song used (the donation would be tax deductible in many cases).

5.3 The music should be credited according to guidelines mentioned in the in the previous section.

6. Large Businesses, Advertisers, Filmmakers

They should contact me at zijun01@gmail.com. When making the request, they should describe the project in detail. Who is the client? what is the purpose of the work?   How, where and when will it be shown? What is the estimated budget of the project? For music in the featured guest series, I will pass your request on to the composer/musician in question.

7. Discontinued works

The following songs were removed from the free background music series on 20 May 2014.
6. IS 1*
7. IS 2*
13. Arpology 1: Frantic Sax Version*
14. Arpology 2: Ambient Synth Version*
15. Yeah! Why?*
20. Cog in your Machine*
21. Slow Descent I and Slow Descent II*
28. Who I am*

Additional Information about Creative Commons licences.

Background music compositions 1-15 were issued with the Attribution, Non-Commercial and No-Derivatives licence. The No-derivatives part of the license means that the videos may NOT be used to create a new works such as a video or computer game, without permission. The above Terms of Use, therefore, allow other people to use the music for such purposes (if the terms are met).

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